- The ASX closed flattish on Thursday
- Medibank reported suspected network breach
- Key US inflation report awaits
The ASX 200 index closed flat on Thursday with gains in Financials offsetting losses in Real Estate stocks.
Banks once again caught a bid as the big four rose by around 2% each.
Investors have been buying bank shares since Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) released its FY22 results yesterday where it reported a 15% increase of NPAT to $426 million.
Trading in Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) shares has been suspended since the opening bell as the company reported a cyber incident.
Medibank says it detected unusual activity on its network, but at this stage believes there is no evidence that any sensitive data, including customer data, has been accessed.
“We are working around the clock to understand the full nature of the incident, and any additional impact this incident may have on our customers, our people and our broader ecosystem,” said CEO David Koczkar in a statement .
Qantas (ASX:QAN) was the best performing stock as the airline issued a surprise half year guidance.
The airline says it expects underlying profit before tax of between $1.2bn – $1.3bn in the first half of FY23, which is almost as much as the market was assuming it would make for the full year.
Qantas also expects its net debt to fall to between $3.2 billion and $3.4 billion at 31 December, which is below the bottom of the target range of $3.9 billion.
The RBA’s New Payments Platform system crashed this morning, causing a 4-hour bank payment transfer outage across Australia.
The Osko payment system, which operates on the NPP, was introduced to allow online bank transfers around the clock.
“The issue has now been contained,” the RBA said. “Impacted external services are now operational however there has been some delay to overnight processing of payments.”
Looking ahead, it will be a big session on Wall Street tonight as the US releases its inflation report for September.
The market consensus is for a headline number of 8.1%, and anything higher could impact the markets adversely.
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QAN | Qantas Airways | 5.6 | 8% | 24,077,779 | $9,750,851,089 |
| ZIM | Zimplats Holding Ltd | 25.96 | 7% | 16,416 | $2,620,976,753 |
| JDO | Judo Cap Holdings | 1.255 | 5% | 3,193,872 | $1,315,568,648 |
| TLX | Telix Pharmaceutical | 5.33 | 4% | 749,511 | $1,609,374,812 |
| WBC | Westpac Banking Corp | 23.14 | 3% | 9,469,817 | $78,460,271,623 |
| AIZ | Air New Zealand | 0.665 | 3% | 1,979,163 | $2,172,659,483 |
| CEN | Contact Energy Ltd | 6.47 | 3% | 1,719 | $1,570,197,475 |
| SQ2 | Block | 89.58 | 3% | 86,603 | $3,236,157,453 |
| GOR | Gold Road Res Ltd | 1.3 | 3% | 1,457,606 | $1,361,054,357 |
| NAB | National Aust. Bank | 30.65 | 3% | 6,278,813 | $94,235,939,312 |
| OBL | Omni Bridgeway Ltd | 4.06 | 3% | 209,610 | $1,074,775,795 |
| MFG | Magellan Fin Grp Ltd | 10.68 | 2% | 724,136 | $1,911,890,734 |
| WAF | West African Res Ltd | 1.045 | 2% | 1,269,514 | $1,041,473,060 |
| JBH | JB Hi-Fi Limited | 40.38 | 2% | 429,693 | $4,309,945,531 |
| RRL | Regis Resources | 1.5975 | 2% | 1,439,857 | $1,177,840,443 |
The Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) rose almost 2% as it announced that Robert Cooke will commence in his role as CEO on Monday, 17 October.
Marine transport service tour provider Kelsian Group (ASX:KLS) surged 7% after the Qantas announcement.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEN | Contact Energy Ltd | 7.18 | -10.25 | 18,057 | $2,036,369,872 |
| CTT | Cettire | 3.07 | -8.51 | 2,376,132 | $1,277,148,037 |
| LTR | Liontown Resources | 1.25 | -8.09 | 18,722,621 | $3,285,526,258 |
| CMM | Capricorn Metals | 4.47 | -8.02 | 2,609,627 | $1,827,156,731 |
| PLS | Pilbara Min Ltd | 3.28 | -7.08 | 49,752,832 | $10,623,403,190 |
| MMS | McMillan Shakespeare | 16.89 | -6.74 | 181,568 | $1,261,235,165 |
| EMR | Emerald Res NL | 2.70 | -6.25 | 1,551,126 | $1,794,427,857 |
| LFG | Liberty Fin Group | 3.85 | -6.10 | 6,307 | $1,245,595,879 |
| IGO | IGO Limited | 7.56 | -5.85 | 4,481,363 | $6,080,860,538 |
| RMS | Ramelius Resources | 1.66 | -5.43 | 3,687,423 | $1,989,363,213 |
| MCY | Mercury NZ Limited | 5.70 | -5.00 | 6,443 | $8,347,363,434 |
| SLR | Silver Lake Resource | 1.09 | -5.00 | 3,980,280 | $1,074,955,983 |
| PRU | Perseus Mining Ltd | 1.94 | -4.68 | 5,359,813 | $2,788,334,831 |
| IFL | Insignia Financial | 2.07 | -4.61 | 2,380,436 | $1,446,580,054 |
| RED | Red 5 Limited | 0.36 | -4.61 | 12,116,319 | $1,315,631,915 |
| MIN | Mineral Resources. | 57.35 | -4.29 | 908,699 | $11,695,570,766 |
| NST | Northern Star | 12.36 | -4.19 | 2,418,019 | $14,824,952,396 |
NIB Holdings (ASX:NIB) fell 12% after completing its fully underwritten $135 million institutional placement.
Most lithium stocks were sold today with Allkem (ASX:AKE) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) falling by 4%.